Parolski.com » politics

An end, a pause, a beginning

Anton Parol — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 21:01:30 +0000

There is a single moment that sticks in my mind about the 2008 US Presidential race. Maybe its not so significant, but if what it represents remains consistent, then the ideology executed in front of it will be far reaching in its effect. I’m talking about the moment that Barack Obama finished his election victory speech. He waited, thought about the moment, and then smiled. There is at least a 7 second gap.

His pause, before showing emotion, is very significant. Why? It signals his ability to contain himself, his ability to suppress ego (think what most men would do in his position), despite the temptation to go wobbly at the knees. This is a man who, when in front of 100,000 people, wasn’t grinning like some child whose most hated bully had been slapped in the face. He simply paused, absorbed the reaction, waited a moment and smiled.

The bit to watch out for is the last 10 seconds of the clip, although the whole clip is quite informative and worth watching.

The honeymoon will be over when the new elect President comes to tell America some truths:

“Iraq” is Arabic for “Vietnam”
Afghanistan can never be won, and Pakistan won’t be worth the effort (for the same reasons as Afghanistan)
Their brand of capitalism will need serious welding to fix the banking/housing crisis
Globalisation has permanently relieved the America economy of jobs

Click here for a high quality filming of the event and here for the script of the speech.

As for foreign policy, even Family Guy writers can’t write this stuff, they just copy and paste:

Possibly the best part of having Mr Obama as President, is that he’s going to open channels of dialogue with the Iranian Government. This can only be a good thing; as not too far in the future Iran might be nuclear capable, which is perceived to be an obstacle to international relations (even though its fine to break principles when cash is flashed).

Seeing a man who will clearly go on to be a great statesmen, I can’t help but look to the east and wonder where the great Muslim statesmen are. The leaders of Egypt, Syrian, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Qatar fail to impress. A pity, since some of the greatest statesmen of history have passed through their lands.

May God have mercy on us all. Let us all be the change we want to see in the world. It sounds like therapy, but its what alot of people need to hear; yes, we can.

Were your bestest-bestest friend, honest!

Anton Parol — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 21:38:49 +0000

It feels like it took a while, but now that storm over South Ossetia has calmed a little, the media has taken a step back and started digging harder. Lionel Beehner reveals to us his thoughts on why Dick Cheneny has arrived in Eastern Europe, (reosurces) with some aid in hand. It makes you wonder why the BBC don’t let the cat out the bag, when they showed a map of the region pinpointing the pipe lines, but saying nothing about them. Put simply, Georgian foreign policy is under the hand of the US and it probably won’t be long before military presence gets beefed up with an arms deal.

But for me the more interesting question is, when will it be publicly revealed that there is already American and Israeli ordinance in Georgia, and that the Russians have captured unmanned aerial vehicles? It won’t be long before that kit gets stripped down, reverse engineered and resold to the Syrians ….. (Bashar Al Assad has already made his visit to Moscow)

Tackling violent extremism

Anton Parol — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 01:20:13 +0000

Government policies can sometimes make people feel like politicians have not observed reality enough. Given that politicians often believe that the sole purpose of a state is to preserve its own existence, this is not surprising. That a state is long lasting should be a result of its fine qualities, and not the other way around. Articles like this one only reinforce the evidence that they don’t look to the root cause of problems when trying to overcome them. I DO NOT condone suicide bombing; it was not the way of any of the prophets of any of the Abrahamic faiths, and is certainly not permitted in Islam. However, the reason that the disenfranchised always give is that the destruction they cause is a reaction to the foreign policies. Again, I am against these ill visioned jihadist sentiments. The trouble is, that they state the root cause for their actions, so surely the government should consider it, instead of trying to use some kind of poorly applied treatment.

Nevertheless the government’s counterterrorism experts acknowledge that real or perceived grievances about official policy, particularly foreign policy, discrimination or racism, and counterterrorism measures themselves, can also contribute.

“…can also contribute.” ? Its the sole reason they do it! It is a pity that fellow Muslims submit to this method of effecting change, especially as it wasn’t the example given to us by our beloved Prophets. I believe the most lasting changes in society are brought through sound reasoning, clear understanding and mutual respect. After all, the values that we all subscribe to are roughly the same. They just have a different origin.

It reminds me a little of a joke I read about some famous communists;

Lenin, Stalin, and Brezhnev are on a train crossing Siberia when it breaks down.

“Do not worry, comrades!” cries Lenin. “The people will throw off the chains of their capitalist overlords, and get the train moving again!”

The three wait for a few hours. The train doesn’t move. Stalin gets up.

“Comrades,” says Stalin, menacingly. “Do not worry. I will shoot every third man until the train starts moving again.” He goes out, and comes back several hours later covered in blood. The train still isn’t moving.

Brezhnev gets up, a patient smile on his face. “Comrades,” he says, gently. “Do not worry. I have the solution to all our problems. Let us just *pretend* the train is moving.”

*My apologies if I have offended any communist readers, I will promptly pull this page down if its deemed offensive.